Boiling up a birthday present

[BBeerme]

My better half is Asian. Chinese to be exact. Third generation. So she's about American as it gets. Anyway, in the beginning, some of her immediate family didn't like me because I was/am a blue collar worker.

But near the beginning of our relationship, the Grandma saw me picking up single grains of rice off of the plate with chop sticks, while waiting for the next course in a ten course meal, and gave me the family approval. I didn't understand the significance at the time, but I learned later. It used to be that Elders would sway the direction of the family.

But I digress.

These past few years, I've been given a duck carcass here and there. These are Peking Duck Carcasses. Totally awesome flavor. It's an honor to receive one of these duck carcasses. If you do not know the flavor of a duck prepared Peking style, try it, it is awesome.

The carcasses are given to the elders by the restaurants. At no charge. Just need to know what to ask for. And most high end restaurants are select on how they hand them out.

I received two last birthday. Boiling them up right now. Gonna have some yummy soup for dinner. Along with some other yummy stuff. And lots of left over soup to be frozen.

[joemach]

Ok. I'm jealous!

Been to Chinatown in SF & know the smells and tast of duck.

I agree, yummy.

[Bazooka Joe]

I like Vietnamese Pho soup and their food in general myself.

[MayaBaker]

Used to live in Beijing for 3 years, and each Friday my friends and I went to one restaurant in Dongcheng district and ate that Peking duck. We never got bored with it, each time we ate it was like the first time

[Scoobie]

My better half is Asian. Chinese to be exact. Third generation. So she's about American as it gets. Anyway, in the beginning, some of her immediate family didn't like me because I was/am a blue collar worker.

But near the beginning of our relationship, the Grandma saw me picking up single grains of rice off of the plate with chop sticks, while waiting for the next course in a ten course meal, and gave me the family approval. I didn't understand the significance at the time, but I learned later. It used to be that Elders would sway the direction of the family.

But I digress.

These past few years, I've been given a duck carcass here and there. These are Peking Duck Carcasses. Totally awesome flavor. It's an honor to receive one of these duck carcasses. If you do not know the flavor of a duck prepared Peking style, try it, it is awesome.

The carcasses are given to the elders by the restaurants. At no charge. Just need to know what to ask for. And most high end restaurants are select on how they hand them out.

I received two last birthday. Boiling them up right now. Gonna have some yummy soup for dinner. Along with some other yummy stuff. And lots of left over soup to be frozen.

Im going to say Grandma was pretty dang smart.

[bettyMitchell]

Looks good!

[BBeerme]

Last weekend had dinner with immediate family, sort of a post Thanks giving dinner. At Great China in Oakland, CA. They do some mighty awesome dishes. Long story short, I guess mom in law gave a pretty good tip, because when she asked for the duck carcass, the waiter brought three. THREE !!

And she gave all three to me, Woo Hoo . . . !

Now, to top that off, when we dropped her off at her house, she said wait. Then came out with two frozen turkey butts. There are a couple of people in the extended family that consider turkey butts to be a delicacy, when prepared proper. Grandma was one of those people.

So, got family members that give me the bones after the meat has been scraped off. And the asses of turkeys. I'm moving up in the world !

[BBeerme]

Ooops, not Oakland, but Berkeley, CA.

[hvacker]

We have duck on special times. My Chinese book has recipes where duck stock is used to become "Special" I always make carcass stock for special rice.
If some here want a good book on Chinese cooking I have a good one by Deh-Ta Hsiung called Chinese Cooking Secrets. I sent for it after one recipe was in the paper.
A Chinese restaurant I went to often had the little hot peppers. The owner would come out and tell me "No! Don't eat those!" pointing to the peppers. Probably thinking if I ate one I might blame him. Never! I say. The food wouldn't be the same w/o them.

[BBeerme]

Even simple duck stock can be a wonderful addition to an otherwise uneventful dish.

Had a cooking class from a wine club I was in maybe 20 years ago. The chef showed how to boil the duck down to its essence. Think it was the fat. That's where the secret was. Tiny bit went a long ways.

With the Peking duck carcasses, just boil it all down, and it doesn't much matter what else you throw in there. My sweetie said she wants to make some won tons. Which means that's the day I'll spend a few hours boiling up the carcasses.

Mmmm, yum yum . . .

We have duck on special times. My Chinese book has recipes where duck stock is used to become "Special" I always make carcass stock for special rice.
If some here want a good book on Chinese cooking I have a good one by Deh-Ta Hsiung called Chinese Cooking Secrets. I sent for it after one recipe was in the paper.
A Chinese restaurant I went to often had the little hot peppers. The owner would come out and tell me "No! Don't eat those!" pointing to the peppers. Probably thinking if I ate one I might blame him. Never! I say. The food wouldn't be the same w/o them.

[hvacker]

When I broil a duck, I make sure there's plenty of ventilation or the house will smell yummy all day and the next. Duck breast with cherry sauce reduction'. Too bad those little birds cost so much. I have them in the farm fields here eating bugs. Sometimes I think a nice shot with a pellet but that might cost more than buying one.
I wonder why the stores don't sell duck or goose. I have to order duck and I can't imagine what a goose might cost.
If people here ever began to eat pigeon, our cities poop problem would be solved and soon pigeon would be endangered. Only seen at zoos.

[BBeerme]

Duck is a delicacy when prepared properly. Even saving the duck fat and rendering it down is an effort well worth the while. A small addition of duck fat to some recipes can add nuances only found at the higher level of what a true chef prepares.

Years ago I asked a butcher why ducks were not sold in stores. He replied simply, no market for them; they don't sell. Maybe because people see ducks flying around, and they have some sort of 'romantic' feeling towards them.

I worked with an engineer once who told the story (I'm guessing before he was an engineer) . . .

"I'd go out with my shot gun, and if I couldn't shoot a duck, we wouldn't have meat on the table for dinner that night."

At the time he was living somewhere in the mid west.

When I broil a duck, I make sure there's plenty of ventilation or the house will smell yummy all day and the next. Duck breast with cherry sauce reduction'. Too bad those little birds cost so much. I have them in the farm fields here eating bugs. Sometimes I think a nice shot with a pellet but that might cost more than buying one.
I wonder why the stores don't sell duck or goose. I have to order duck and I can't imagine what a goose might cost.
If people here ever began to eat pigeon, our cities poop problem would be solved and soon pigeon would be endangered. Only seen at zoos.